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Monday, 14 November 2016

Packing away the paraphernalia

I have a dresser unit in our dining room that is filled with all my witchy stuff; tarot and oracle cards, runes sets, candle holders, altar decorations etc and holds my main altar ... or at least it did up until yesterday...

Our beautiful daughter is studying for her GCSEs at the moment and her main subject is art so she has an easel, a drawing board, paints, brushes, canvas, sketch pads...and all manner of other bits and bobs to work with on her projects and exams which was all stuffed in her bedroom and which she would bring down each day to work at on the dining room table.

It dawned on me yesterday that it would make far more sense and a lot less stress for her if the art supplies were stored in the dining room by the table that she works on...the solution was for me to pack away all my witchy goodies into boxes to store in the conservatory freeing up the dresser for art supplies.

It didn't take long with all of us pitching in before the dresser became an art cupboard and two big cardboard boxes of witchiness stood in the conservatory...I felt a little tinge of sadness but surprisingly only a teeny one before I came to a realisation.

Don't worry I am not abandoning my pathway! Far from it actually. But what has happened over the years is that my pathway twists and turns and I follow on wherever it takes me. The light bulb moment I had was that actually I hadn't opened that cupboard in weeks, probably months.

My pathway is that of a kitchen/hedge witch (if you want to give it a label) and as such over the years I have used less and less tools to the point where I can't actually remember the last time I used a wand, an athame or a chalice. I don't necessarily follow the sabbats any more either (my W&P blog post here explains) so my main altar is fairly simple and I don't use a lot of 'whistles and bells' on it, preferring to put fresh flowers or herbs from the garden and any natural items I find on it instead.

I am currently writing Witchcraft...into the wilds which is actually all about working without tools of any kind and tapping into the energy around us so it made perfect sense to pack all the paraphernalia away...because I don't use it! This is a huge prompt for me to work with what nature has provided, I don't need to sit at an altar indoors every day (although I do still have a small altar on my desk and one in the conservatory...a girl can't have too many altars) what I have already been doing is stepping outside into the garden every morning to 'test the air' and see what the energy is that day whilst connecting with the divine.

So not only do we have an art storage solution but also a push for me to move forward into the next phase of my Craft...even though I have been doing it already for some considerable time!

3 comments:

Glad to hear I am not the only one! I haven't set up a formal altar for my workings in years. I too am a kitchen/hedge witch that uses what is at hand for my spells and workings. If the power is not in the hand, it will never be in the implement.

This is a brilliantly helpful post. I haven't used any of my 'witchy' stuff in a long while and I only do sabbats if I am invited to someone's ritual. I did my year and a day with a Wiccan coven before deciding not to go through with the initiation as Wicca was not for me. I have felt for a long time as though I am somehow less of a witch than friends who observe all the festivals. I am solitary by choice, I will gaze at and talk to the moon, cry at the beauty and serenity of woodland and find myself casting healing spells almost without realising I am doing it. It feels so natural to me that I don't question. I am so happy to hear that you are not missing the paraphernalia and strict observance that so many take for being a ' real' witch. Thank you for sharing and letting me see that I am not not alone in just being me....